Flap Missing In Easton Gun Change

January 05, 1990|by PAUL CARPENTER, The Morning Call

When a government agency, especially a police department, wants to implement a significant change, there's supposed to be a big fight. Maybe the civilian administration on one side and the uniforms on the other, or police brass vs. the police union, or the police establishment vs. civil rights advocates, or somebody vs. somebody.

In Easton, however, a proposal to switch from revolvers to semiautomatic handguns has created a crescendo of accord. The mayor likes the idea, as do the police union and City Council. We haven't heard a peep from the civil rights people or others who often express concern over police activities.

When I was a reporter in Philadelphia, we could count on Frank Rizzo when things were too quiet. As police commissioner or as mayor, he'd create juicy headlines by sticking billy clubs in his cummerbunds, threatening to bash in people's heads or whatever.

So I went to see Easton Police Chief Alvin L. Fairchild Jr., with visions of the sort of flap that reporters have dancing though their heads instead of sugar plums.

What a bummer.

First of all, Fairchild looks like the scholarly type, and for good reason. He has a degree in sociology and anthropology from Penn State and is working on a master's in public administration from Kutztown.

But in the police building's lobby is a chart on the department's physical fitness program, listing department records in five categories. The records for pullups (43) and situps (66) were set by Fairchild back in 1988, before he became chief. Already, in terms of intellect and physical fitness, Fairchild was the antithesis of Rizzo.

He also is an up-through-the-ranks chief who originally joined the force after combat duty in the Marine Corps. Articulate, affable. Picture of a nice family on the wall. No lurid stories here. I may as well find out what's so great about these guns.

Fairchild turned on a television set and plugged in an instructional video showing two men, one with a revolver and one with a semiautomatic, shooting at silhouette targets. The revolver gets off 18 rounds in the time it takes the semiautomatic to get off 48.

Then each pretends his left arm is disabled and reloads his gun one-handed, using a speed loader for the revolver and a clip for the semiautomatic. This time the difference is even more dramatic. As the video ends, the man with the revolver mutters "slight disadvantage," and the other people in the video have a good laugh.

Fairchild went into a big vault and emerged with one of the new 9mm semiautomatics that will replace the .357-caliber revolvers carried by Easton policemen. He placed it on his cluttered desk, said it was unloaded and let me pick it up. It had the look and feel of the old .45-caliber sidearms that were once standard military issue, only more compact.

Each gun has a $405 price tag, but Easton's plan minimizes the burden for taxpayers. The city will get $175 knocked off by trading in a revolver, leaving a $230 balance. If an officer wants to buy the semiautomatic, he or she pays the $230, leaving the city with a net cost of zero. The officer can keep it when leaving the force, or sell it back to the city for the $230.

Thus far, 47 of Easton's 54 officers have said they want to pay the $230. So, for the most part, the city is arming its policemen with vastly superior weapons with little cost impact. Moreover, the new guns have a secret gizmo to make them inoperative if someone tries to wrest away an officer's weapon in a scuffle.

But the biggest advantage is firepower. The new guns can hold 15 rounds, vs. six for revolvers. That can be a life-or-death factor. "The crime climate in the area has certainly changed," Fairchild noted. "The drug underworld (has) been known to carry some very sophisticated firepower."

Other police departments, including New Jersey State Police, Palmer Township and Wilson, have made the switch. Bethlehem is considering it. And I can't find anybody who wants to make a fuss.